On this week: New school campus plans on former air base in 2012 and parents’ bid to save school in 1984

In our weekly feature, we look back through the pages of the Lynn News from September 8 – 14, 2014 as well as a picture from 1984…From keeping up morale in wartime to entertaining thousands in peacetime, the King’s Lynn Players group is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. And, to mark the occasion, its oldest surviving member has swopped the stage for the page to write a history of the group. Eddie Lyon, who is a vice-president and life member, joined the group in 1947, just three years after it was founded. Now aged 81, Mr Lyon, of South Wootton, has spent the last eight months researching the book which he hopes to get published. The book chronicles every production staged since the opening production in May 1944, the many people involved and also the venues used.Tourist trade in West Norfolk has enjoyed a super summer – despite fears that traffic chaos and closed attractions might have kept visitors away, business leaders have said. Although parking revenues in Hunstanton were substantially down in August, traders both there and in Lynn are delighted how the season has gone. Fears for the borough’s tourist industry were heightened by the long-running roadworks on the A47 at Lynn which caused travel misery for many between early June and early August.

A new campus for Downham Academy could be built under plans to regenerate the town’s former RAF base. The new school building is planned as part of the £170 million scheme to transform the 70-acre base into a science and technology hub. The academy is sponsored by the College of West Anglia, which is working with Aventa Capital Partners on the regeneration plans.North Lynn residents are urged to have their say on multi-million pound plans for a new access road and hundreds of extra homes. An online consultation has been launched on the proposed route between Edward Benefer Way and Lynnsport, as well as around 600 new homes to be built on four areas of land around it. Up to £4.35 million could be spent on the access road if the proposals go ahead, and residents have been told it would not affect the cycle path which is already in place.West Norfolk is preparing to welcome a new royal resident following the announcement the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant once again. The news was confirmed this week soon after the royal couple visited the borough when they are understood to have been checking the progress of works on their country home at Anmer Hall. The Duke and Duchess are believed to prefer to raise their children at Anmer Hall, which was given to them by the Queen, rather than at Kensington Palace, while the Duke will also be based in the region when he takes up his new role as a pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. After months of work and fundraising for Hunstanton’s Lifestyles Festival, organisers have confirmed they have reached the £25,000 target. The team behind the festival are over the moon, and the announcements are coming thick and fast now, and the countdown to September 19 is firmly on. British Kitesports has already confirmed it will run two national competitions during the Lifestyles event and this has given the organising committee a huge boost as it puts the final touches to the free event which is expected to draw thousands to the West Norfolk coast.GP services in Lynn and the rest of West Norfolk are under increasing strain as patient numbers rise. Already almost a sixth of those living in Norfolk are waiting longer than a week to see their GP, according to a national survey by NHS England, and the general manager of Southgates Medical Centre, Noel McGivern, confirmed this week that concern was rising about doctors’ ability to cope.They say dogs are a man’s best friend – but they can be pretty kind to each other as well. That’s because 12 compassionate canines helped save the lives of other dogs when the country’s only blood bank for pets made its first visit to West Norfolk. The dogs and their owners were welcomed by Pet Blood Bank UK for the blood donor session held at the Retired Greyhound Trust animal shelter in Marshland St James. During the event all the dogs were given a thorough health check by the blood bank vets, and all the successful donors received a special ‘life-saver’ bandana, a tasty treat and a new toy.